Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/382

 MERVINE

MESSER

MERVINE, WilHam, naval officer, was born in Pennsylvania in 1790. He entered the U.S. navy as midsliiprnan, Jan. 16, 1809 ; served tlirough the war of 1812 ; was promoted lieuten- ant Feb. 4, 1815 ; commander June 18, 1834 ; and ctiptain, Sept. 8, 1841. He was on duty afloat twenty-five years, on shore duty four years, and awaiting orders or on furlough twenty-three years. He served during the first year of the civil war, at the age of seventy-one, but was forced to re- tire owing to ill-healtli. He was placed on the retired list, Dec. 21, 1861 ; was retired with the rank of commodore, July 16, 1862; was promoted rear-admiral on the retired list, July 25, 1866, and died at Utica, N.Y., Sept. 15, 1868.

MERWIN, Orange, representative, was born iji New Milford, Conn., April 6, 1777 ; son of David and Tamesin (Comstock) Merwin ; grand- vsonof Joseph and Margaret (Fowler) Merwin, and fifth in direct line of descent from Miles Merwin, who came from England in 1645 and settled on a tract of Ian 1 in Connecticut on the Long Island sound, known as Pond Point or Merwin's Point, Milford. He was a student at the academy ; and was a representative from Connecticut in the 19th and 20th congresses, 1825-29. He was twice mar- ried, first to Tryphene Warner, and secondly to Lydia S. Bostwick. He died in New Milford, Conn., Sept. 4, 1853.

MESERVE, Charles Francis, educator, was born in North Abington, Mass., July 15, 1850 ; son of Charles and Susanna (Blanchard) Me- serve; grandson of Solomon Meserve.of Dresden, Maine, who died in the service of his country in the war of 1812, and a descendant of Clement Meserve, who came from the Isle of Jersey and settled in New Hampshire about 1670. He at- tended the public schools of North Abington ; assisted his father in shoemaking, 1864-69 ; was prepared for college at the Classical institute, Waterville, Maine, and was graduated at Colby university, Waterville, A.B., 1877, A.M., 1880. He was the princii>al of the high Si'hool at Rock- land, Mass., 1877-85 ; principal of the Oak Street school, Springfield, Mass., 1885-89; superintend- ent of Hiiskell institute, the U.S. Indian indus- trial training school at Lawrence, Kan., 1889-94, and in 1894 became president of Shaw university at Raleigh, N.C. He served as a special agent of the National Indian Rights association of Philadelphia in 1896, making a personal in- vestigation of the work of the Dawes Commission among the five civilized tribes in the Indian Ter- ritory. His report was favorable to the work of tlie commission, Ex-Senator Dawes stating that this report made possible the subsequent success of the Dawes Commission. He was married, Dec. 19, 1878, to Abbie Mary, daughter of David and Mary (Ricker) Wliittier, of Bangor, Maine. His

wife died Oct. 6, 1898, leaving a daughter, Alice Whittier, who was in 1902 a student at Vassar college. On May 16, 1900, he was married to Julia Francis, daughter of John White and Julia (Moore) Philbrick, of Waterville, Maine. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Colby in 1900. He delivered addresses, contributed arti- cles on the Negro and Indian problems, and is the author of the History of the Towns of Abing- ton, Whitman and Rockland, in Lewis's His- tory of Plymouth County, Mass. (1884).

MESSENGER, Lillian Rozell, author, was born near Milbuin, Ballard county, Ky., in 1844 ; daughter of Dr. Francis Overton and Caroline (Cole) Rozell, both natives of Virginia, and a de- scendant of John Laurence Rozell. She was graduated from Forest Hill institute, Tennessee, and studied music and art. She was married, 1861, to North A. Messenger, of Tuscumbia, Ala., and upon his death in 1866 engaged in newspaper work. She removed to Arkansas in 1868, tem- porarily, and was the first woman elected a member of the State Press association of that state. She subsequently resided in Washington, D.C., and engaged in general literary work. Sha was one of the charter members of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is the author of several books of poems, including : Threads of Fate (1872); Fragments from an OZd 7nn (1885); The Vlnon of Gold (1886); The Southern Cross (1891); Columbus (1893); In the Heart of Amer- ica (1892).

MESSER, Asa, educator, was born in Me- thuen, Mass., in 1769; son of Asa and Abiah Messer. He lived on his father's farm until 1782 ; was a clerk in a store at Haverhill, 1782-83 ; pre- pared for college under the Rev. Dr. Hezekiah. Smith of Haverhill, and the Rev. Mr. Williams, a Scotch clergyman in Windham, N.H., until 1786; and was graduated at Brown univer- sity, A.B., 1790, A.M., 1793. He was tutor at Brown, 17- 91-96 ; college librarian, 17- 92-99 ; professor of learned languages, 1799-96, and of mathematics and natural philosophy, 1799-1802. He was ordained to the Baptist ministry in 1802 and preached occasionally for congregations of different denominations. He was acting president of Brown university as successor to tlie Rev. Jonathan Maxcy, re- signed, 1802-04, and president by election, 18* 04-26. He resigned in 1826 and settled on a farm in the suburbs of Providence, R.I., fill- ing various local offices in Providence. He re- ceived the degree D.D. from Brown university in 1806, LL.D. from the University of Vermont in 1812, and D.D. from Harvard in 1820. He wa»